Analysts: Windows 8 downgrade rights crucial to success
It’s an interesting point of view! Do you think that Win8 has the risk of becoming Microsofts next “Vista”?
Unless they really pull things off and gets Surface, app developers and Metro usable then I can certainly see that it may be a risk. I for sure didn’t like it but perhaps it just takes time to get used to, but is it then a success? It didn’t take many minutes to fall in love with OS X and my MacBook Air!
Analysts: Windows 8 downgrade rights crucial to success
Only future will tell…
//Richard
vCloud Architecture Toolkit (vCAT) 3.0 now available for download
Ok, this is interesting and a lot of people are sharing this right now! Read more and download it here!
“VMware is pleased to announce the release of the vCAT 3.0 material.
The VMware vCloud Architecture Toolkit provides technical and operational guidance for cloud success. It includes the tools and guidance to build, operate, and consume an industry-leading cloud computing infrastructure solution. Unlike a Reference Architecture which focuses on one use case, this architecture toolkit includes support for multiple use cases and combinations of use cases. It is based on field experience with hundreds of customers and partners. It is validated by internal and external individuals and is supported by VMware as the de-facto reference for vCloud deployments. This is offered free of charge.
SCCM 2012 for Linux and UNIX
Ok, this is interesting! Microsoft is adding more support for Configuration Manager in terms of managing Linux and UNIX targets. It will be interesting to see what the end-result will be when SP1 ships and most interesting will be if Microsoft will be able to convince the Linux and UNIX community out there that this is something that is competitive with other solutions like Puppet, Chef, STAF etc.
Here is a summary of the feature set planned for the SP1 release;
| Functionality | More information |
|---|---|
| Collections, queries, and maintenance windows | Collections of Linux and UNIX Servers |
| Hardware inventory | Hardware Inventory for Linux and UNIX Servers |
| Software Distribution | Software Deployment to Linux and UNIX Servers |
| Monitoring and reporting | Monitoring the Configuration of Linux and UNIX Servers |
Interesting – Citrix acquires Beetil
Today Citrix announced that it has acquired Beetil!
“Beetil helps technical support professionals provide exceptional customer assistance and streamline technology costs through the delivery of easy-to-use, yet powerful incident tracking, end user self-service, configuration, change management and release management functionality.
The acquisition enables Citrix to expand the capabilities of its market-leading, cloud-based support product line, Citrix GoToAssist, with the addition of an integrated IT service desk solution. As a result, Citrix has the ability to offer support professionals an essential set of cloud-based services from a single platform for remote support, monitoring and service desk management.”
To read the complete announcement click here!
I must dig a bit deeper into this acquisition and see how it fits the overall Citrix offerings!
Citrix does need something in this space but most of all I’d like to see something happening in the “ITSM-area”, today I find most of the products to be technology driven and an enabler for functionality, but not so much how you can integrate all these technologies into a managed service E2E.
//Richard
XMind – Great app!
If you haven’t got a good mind mapping app that helps you go download this one and give it a go!
It has great templates etc and the free one works for me but they of course have other options as well that are really professional.
//Richard
OpenStack vs. CloudStack – IaaS – PaaS – XaaS
Ok, so what are your thoughts, findings and view on which will become or already is the best solution out there for IaaS/PaaS services?
I must admit that this is not my area of expertise but it’s an area of interest and I like reading about it to get more up to date on where they are from a service readiness perspective. Are they ready for enterprise usage, or are enterprises stuck in their mindset of adopting the open source initiatives and technologies that exists around them. If yes; then why? Is it due to that it doesn’t fit the existing way of how they buy or deliver existing IT services, or is the technology not ready from an ITSM point of view with SD, SLA, SLO and delivery models that we have with the “old” traditional technologies like vSphere, XenServer and Hyper-V if you put a large enterprise organization and governance on top of it?
VMworld 2012 video roundup
BYOD = reality or just a vision? – Part 2
Ok, where did we end part 1.. yes, it was around my personal view around why it’s not that easy for enterprises to adopt a BYOD concept similar to what we at EnvokeIT have.
(If you haven’t read part 1 you can do that here.)
So why can we work this way and not the enterprises, well there are many answers to that question. One reason may be that they have IPR etc that is important to protect and a legacy IT environment that has been around since the mainframe era with a lot of in-house developed apps, it’s a legacy that we newcomers don’t have! And they also have a much more complex organization with difference roles and requirements. It’s sometimes hard to tell a developer to work on any device with no development tools installed locally and only work in a remote desktop which requires him/her to be online. These users would perhaps want to be able to perform their development work from their vacation cabin up north with limited connectivity or wherever they can’t be connected. And the whole world doesn’t have the connectivity that we in europe are used to.
Oldie that’s worth another look…Logon Optimization Guide – XenApp/XenDesktop
Ok, it’s been around for some time. But we every now and then find a lot of implementations where the architect/SME that built the environment haven’t thought of the basics and best practises that are documented and out there for free!
Citrix Logon Optimization Guide – XenApp/XenDesktop
Have another go at reading it, just as a reference/checklist! 😉
Cheers!
//Richard
Citrix XenServer Multiple Security Updates
Ok, seems like we may have to update some XenServers… Have a look at this Security Bulletin for multiple Citrix XenServer Security updates.
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 